Pulvinaria aligarhensis Avasthi & Shafee

Moghaddam, Masumeh & Watson, Gillian W., 2024, The Scale Insects Of Iran (Hemiptera: Coccomorpha) Part 3 The Soft Scales (Coccidae) And Other Families, Zootaxa 5542 (1), pp. 1-202 : 77-78

Pulvinaria aligarhensis Avasthi & Shafee

( Fig. 31 , distribution map Fig. 92J )

Pulvinaria aligarhensis Avasthi & Shafee, 1985: 1289 .

Field characteristics: Live adult female oval, flat, grey with a longitudinal dark brown median patch. Mature adult female becomes enclosed in ovisac material.

Microscopic diagnosis: Slide-mounted adult female body broadly oval. Stigmatic clefts relatively deep. Anal cleft of moderate depth.

Dorsum. Slide mounted adult female broadly oval. Derm membranous; lacking dermal areolations. Setae small and lanceolate, scattered throughout. Preopercular pores each oval to circular, present anterior to anal plates and extending to level of mouthparts. Tubular ducts and duct tubercles absent. Anal plates together quadrate; each plate with 3 apical and 1 subdiscal setae dorsally. Anal ring with 6 setae present.

Margin. Marginal setae slender, with apices knobbed or rounded, with about 15‒22 on each side between anterior and posterior stigmatic areas; setae on either side of anal cleft longer. Stigmatic cleft well developed; each spiracular cleft containing group of 3 or rarely 4 stigmatic setae; median stigmatic seta 2 or 3 times longer than lateral setae. Marginal setae slender with clubbed apices, except for a few long, simple setae on apex of each anal lobe (in Iranian specimens).

Venter. Derm completely membranous. Multilocular disc-pores each with 7 or 10 loculi, numerous around anogenital fold and extending medially and submedially as far forward as head, where they also occur on the submargin. Quinquelocular spiracular pores present in a band between each spiracle and stigmatic cleft. Microducts scattered throughout (not illustrated). Tubular ducts of 3 types: (i) a duct with fairly short outer ductule and short, filamentous inner ductule with a minute terminal gland, present in a broad submarginal band extending from anal cleft to near antennae; (ii) a duct rather similar to type (i) but with inner ductule broader and often longer than outer ductule, and with a large terminal gland, present medially in more posterior abdominal segments and laterally interspersed with type (i) ducts; and (iii) a larger duct, with a deeper cup-shaped invagination and inner ductule even broader than that in type (ii) and with a large terminal gland; this is the only duct type present medially on head, thorax and more anterior abdominal segments; they also extend laterally to meet submarginal band of type (i) and (ii) ducts, where they become infrequent or absent. Venter with setae of variable lengths, sparsely distributed; all abdominal segments each with a median pair of long setae. With 4 pairs of setae between antennal bases. Legs well developed, each with an articulation between tibia and tarsus, with a tibio-tarsal sclerosis; claw without a denticle; both claw digitules broad and shorter than thin tarsal digitules.Antennae each with mostly 8 segments, with segment III longest.

Distribution: Pulvinaria aligarhensis has only been recorded from India before; this is the first record from Iran, where it is found in Sistan & Balouchestan province.

Host-plants: Pulvinaria aligarhensis has been recorded only on Azadirachta indica ( Meliaceae ) ( García Morales et al. 2016), including in Iran.

Economic importance: Not of any economic importance in Iran.

Natural enemies: None recorded in Iran.

Comments: Pulvinaria aligarhensis is recorded here for the first time in Iran. However, there are some differences between Indian and Iranian specimens (character states of Indian specimens in parenthesis): (i) pregenital disc-pores exceptionally widespread, present around anogenital fold and medially and submedially as far forward as head, where they also occur on the submargin (numerous anterior to anal fold and extending forward medially as far as mouthparts); (ii) marginal setae blunt, some with knobbed apices (all with knobbed apices); and (iii) long marginal setae at apex of each anal lobe numbering 3 or 4 (numbering only 1). These differences are regarded as intraspecific variation.

Figures

FIGURE 31. Adult female of Pulvinaria aligarhensis Avasthi & Shafee, based on an Iranian specimen, with enlargements of tubular ducts of types (i), (ii) and (iii) shown; for details of their respective distributions, see the diagnosis.

FIGURE 92. Distribution maps of scale insect species in Iran covered in this work. A, Porphyrophora chelodonta Vahedi; B, Porphyrophora cynodontis (Archangelskaya); C, Porphyrophora hamelii Brandt; D, Porphyrophora jachenkoi Vahedi; E, Porphyrophora medicaginis Jashenko: F, Porphyrophora tritici (Bodenheimer); G, Porphyrophora victoriae Jashenko; H, Pseudaspidoproctus hyphaeniacus (Hall); I, Pseudochermes fraxini (Kaltenbach); J, Pulvinaria aligarhensis Avasthi & Shafee; K, Pulvinaria aurantii Cockerell; L, Pulvinaria floccifera (Westwood).